Ore-separator



(No Model.) 2 Sheets--Sheet l.

H. H. TAYLOR. ORE SEPARATOR Patented Oct.

(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

H. H. TAYLOR. ORE' SEPARATOR.

No. 460,732. 4 Patented Oct. 6, 1891 llllllllllliil UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HORACE H. TAYLOR, OF FRESNO, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO ROBERT POLLARD, OF SAN LUIS OBISPO, CALIFORNIA.

ORE-SEPARATO R.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 460,732, .dated October 6, 1891. Application filed April 7, 1891. Serial 110.387.943. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HORACE H. TAYLOR, a citizen of the United States, residing at Fresno, in the county of Fresno and State of California, have invented a new and useful Gold- Separator, of which the following is a speci-' ticaiion.

This invention relates to separators of that class known as dry separators, the object being to provide a cheap, simple, easily-operated machine adapted to effectually separate the gold from the sand without the use of water, mercury, or other agent, and simply by blasts of air.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will appear in the following description,

' and the novel features thereof will be particularly pointed out in the claims.

Referring to the drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective of a gold-separator constructed in accordance with my invention. Fig. 2 is a vertical longitudinal section on the line 2 2 of Fig. 3. Fig. 3 is a rear elevation. Fig. 4 is a detail in perspective of the intermittent-reciprocating scraper and the mechanism for operating the same. Fig. 5 is a detail in perspective of the rotary cutoff.

Like numerals of reference indicate like parts in all the figures of the drawings.

In practicing my invention I employ the opposite side frames or standards 1, and in the opposite longitudinal sides of same form bearings 2, which receive the laterally-disposed opposite trunnions 3 of the separator-casing 4. The separator-casing 4 has supported between its opposite side walls the ere-receiving hopper 5, having an inclined bottom terminating in reduced neck or spout 6. Below and in front of the hopper the side walls of the casing are extended, as at 7, and each is provided upon its inner surface with a longitudinal cleat 8, below which some distance is located the upper member 9 of a pair of bellows 10, said members being hinged together at their front ends, as at 11. The upper member of the bellows is simply an open frame, and seated upon the same is the riffle 12, havin g the usual riflie-bars l3 and the reticulated or screen bottom 15. The cleat8 does not extend parallel with the riiiie-frame, and, being located slightly above the same, forms opposite wedge-shaped spaces at theinner sides of the casing, and into said spaces are forced wedge-shaped keys 14, which terminate at their front ends in handles 16,by which they may be inserted and withdrawn, and thus the riifie-frame secured in' position or removed, as desired. The lower section or member 17 of the bellows is provided with a series of air-inlet ports 18, each covered by a clackvalve 19. These ports and valves may be in creased or diminished in accordance with the force of the blast deemed necessary.

A series of hangers 2O depends from the upper member 9 of the bellows into the same, and supported thereby is a pan 21, located under the riffle and designed to catch the fiy-wheel a sprocket-wheel 27. In verticallyopposite brackets 28, extending rearwardly from the hopper and the upper member 9 of the bellows, there is mounted for reciprocation a vertical shaft 29, connected by a link 30 with an arm 31, extending rearwardly from the lower member of the bellows. Between its ends the shaft 29 is provided with a horizontally-disposed yoke 32, which is coincident with the crank 25 of the shaft 24, and by the revolutions of the crank within the yoke the latter, together with its vertical shaft, is raised and lowered. Below the yoke the shaft 29 is provided with a transverse pin 33. Upon the under side of the inclined bottom of the hopper is a pair of bearing-brackets 36, which are located slightly in rear .of the reduced discharge 6 of the hopper, and in said bearing-brackets a shaft 37 is located, upon which near the brackets is mounted a pair of rockarms 38 and a central rock-arm 39, disposed at a right angle to the arm 38 and having a bifurcated end 40, which embraces the shaft 29 and loosely the pin 33 of said shaft. The

depending arms 38 terminate at their lower ends in eyes 41, which loosely receive the transverse bar 42, formed at the rear end of a reciprocating rod 4:3, having a head It at its front end, to which is hinged, as at 45, a scraping-blade 1L6, said rod being mounted for reciprocation in a transverse wall 47 in rear of the reduced opening 6 of the hopper, and directly above the upper member 9 of the bellows, which member serves also as the bottom of the casing, in contact with which the blade normally is.

A shaft -18 is j ournaled in the opposite walls of the casing, and carries outside of the casing a sprocket-wheel L9, and within said casing a rotatable intermittent cutoff 50, consisting of a central hub 51and radiating L- shaped blades 52, the heads of which are rounded, as shown, and adapted to successively-close the discharge-spout of the hopper.

In brackets 53, located at the front and secured to thehopper, are formed bearings 54, and in the same a rotatable shaft 55 is journaled, the bearings of said shaft being made adjustable by a threaded rod 56 and its nut 57, the rod engaging at its inner end the upturned perforated end 58 of the boxing, which latter is movable upon the bracket. Upon one end of the shaft 55 a crank 59 is mounted, and upon the other end a sprocket 60. The sprockets 60, a9, and 27 are all connected by a sprocket-chain 61, through which motion is conveyed from the power-shaft 55, operated by crank or otherwise, to the several mechanisms heretofore described.

This being the construction, the operation is as follows: The sand and gold are placed in the hopper 5 and the machinestarted,and the motion conveyed to the shaft 2%, through the means heretofore described, causesavertical reciprocation of. the bellows-operating shaft 29, and consequently blasts of air are forced in quick successions from the bellows up through the reticulated bottom of .the rifllc-frame. The vertical reciprocations of the shaft 29 are also communicated to the rock-shaft 37 and its arms 39 and 41, so that the latter act to reciprocate the rod 42 and the scraping head or blade -16. As the blade passes to the front its lower edge is in contact with the bottom of the casing,and thus any matter in its path is carefully pushed into the rifiic-frame. In returning, however, by reason of the blade being hinged, it yields or swings, so as to pass over any obstruction which may have fallen from the hopper in rear of the scraper-blade when the latter was in its adva'nce position. The rotarymotion imparted to the sprocket 49 rotates the rotary cut-off 50, bringing the heads 52 of the radiating arms or blades thereof successively under and thus closing the discharge-openin g of the hopper; and in this manner the contents of the hopper-that is, the mixture of sand and goldare discharged in uniform quantity and at intervals, in front of the scraper and onto the rifile-frame. The blasts of air accomplish the remainder of the operation, serving as they do to blow the lighter constituents of the mass that is, the sandu p through the open top of the casing, and the rifTle-bars serving to catch the gold dust or nuggets, which are the heavier and readily settle. Such particles of gold as are sufficiently minute to escape through the meshes of the riflie-frame are caught by the pan and thus collected, to be subsequently removed when desired.

The numerous advantages arising from what is usually termed dry separation are well recognized and require no definite mention. At the same time it might be observed that the machine above described possesses the additional advantages of simplicity, strength, durability, and ease of operation, and that the numerous parts composing the apparatus may be readily constructed, assembled, and duplicated when impaired.

Ilaving described my invention, what I claim is- 1. In a separator, the combination, with a hopper, a casing supportingthe same, a riflieframe located below and sliding in front of the discharge of the hopper, and a reciprocating scraping-blade located under the hopper in rear of the riddle-frame, of means for reciprocating the blade, substantially as specified.

2. In a separator of the class described, the combination, with the casing, the hopper terminating at its lower end in a discharge, and a rifiie-frame located below the bottom of the casing and in advance of the discharge, of a reciprocating bar terminating in a head and having a-hinged scraping-blade, a horizontal shaft, a pair of rock-arms terminatingin eyes depending from the shaft and engaging the reciprocating bar, a bifurcated rock-arm extending from said shaft at a right angle to the first-mentioned arms, a vertically-reciprocating shafthaving atransverse pin, means for operating the same, a cut-off located under the hopper, and means for intermittingly operating the same, substantially as specified.

3. In a separator of the class described,the combination, with the casing, the hopper terminating ina discharge, the riiile-frame located below and in advance of the discharge, the bellows below the frame, the rotary cutoff having the L-shaped blades, the shaft for the same, and the sprocket on the shaft, the reciprocating bar 43, having thehinged blade 45 and the cross-bar 42, the brackets upon the underside of the hopper, the horizontal and depending arms, the latter engaging the crossbar 42 and the former bifurcated, the shaft 2%, mounted in bearings 23, having the crank 25, the sprocket 27, and the fly-wheel 26, of the bearings 28, the vertical shaft 29, mounted thereimhaving the yoke 32 and connected with the bellows by the link 30, the brackets 50, the adjustable shaft 55, the sprocket 60, the crank for operating the shaft, and the sprocket-chain 61, passing around the sprockets G0, 49, and 27, substantially as specified.

i. In a separator, the combination, with a hopper, a casing supporting the same, a littleframe located below and sliding in front of the try,

discharge of the hopper, and a reciprocating In testimony that I claim the-foregoing as scraping-blade located under the hopper in my own I have hereto affixed my signature in rear of the riddle-frame, of means for recippresence of two Witnesses.

rocating the blade, said blade being hinged HORACE H. TAYLOR. at the top, so as to yield or swing backward Witnesses:

when in its receding movement, substantially M. B. KELLOGG,

as specified. F. M. STONE. 

